Marla Estes: Making the unconscious conscious

Marla Estes thinks that movies can teach us a lot about ourselves. In her popular classes for Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and in smaller, ongoing groups, she encourages people to look at films through a personal, psychological lens to learn more about human nature.

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DailyTidings.com

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Posted Dec. 6, 2012 at 8:20 PM
Updated Jan 28, 2013 at 3:15 PM

Posted Dec. 6, 2012 at 8:20 PM
Updated Jan 28, 2013 at 3:15 PM

About This Series

On the Podium is a series spotlighting Ashland teachers. Send profile ideas to jeastman@dailytidings.com

"Marla Estes thinks that movies can teach us a lot about ourselves. In her popular classes for Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and in smaller, ongoing groups, she encourages people to look at films through a personal, psychological lens to learn more about human nature.

This term, her OLLI class is titled "Awakenings through Film," and it takes place at ScienceWorks Hands-on Museum in Ashland. Comments are sometimes personal and discussions grow deep.

Her OLLI classes are often full, with the majority of her students returning to take another long look at films.

She also is a volunteer screener in the Narratives, Shorts and Animation categories for the Ashland Independent Film Festival.

She moved to Ashland 11 years ago from Paris, where the Los Angeles native lived for 16 years while raising three sons.

Favorite aspects about Ashland: Its size. It's small but not too small, and its beauty.

Can you give us a few career highlights? I came to teaching late in life. I got my master's degree in transpersonal psychology in 2005. Since then I have evolved my classes in a totally creative way. My development as a teacher-facilitator during the past six years has been its own ongoing highlight.

How do films reveal information about us? All my classes, whether at OLLI or privately, are geared toward using feature films to have a look at ourselves. It's not therapy or group therapy, but it can be very therapeutic.

Using film allows people to see themselves, their feelings and behaviors, at a comfortable distance. Paradoxically, often they can recognize themselves more clearly and directly in that way.